People with coronary artery disease who undergo heart bypass surgery have a significantly higher risk for developing Alzheimer's disease within five years than patients who have angioplasty, but "most patients will do very well and will not develop Alzheimer's disease" says Benjamin Wolozin, MD, professor of pharmacology at Boston University School of Medicine.

His study shows that the risk for Alzheimer's disease is 70% higher in people with heart disease who undergo bypass surgery than in heart patients who undergo angioplasty.

He presented the findings at the 9th Annual International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders.

Alzheimer's Linked to Bypass Surgery

The study examined patients 55 years and older with coronary artery disease and without dementia at the start of the study. They underwent either bypass surgery or angioplasty. The patients were then followed for nearly five years after surgery.

Overall, the numbers of people with heart disease who develop Alzheimer's disease after surgery is "very small." Seventy-eight patients in over 5,000 bypass patients developed Alzheimer's disease, while 41 in almost 4,000 patients who had angioplasty developed Alzheimer's disease during the five years following surgery.

Other studies have reported memory and thinking problems after bypass surgery, but those problems occurred during the immediate postoperative period. The neurological problems were often associated with the use of a heart-lung bypass pump that circulates blood during the surgery. This is the first study to report an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease during a long-term follow-up period.

Wolozin tells WebMD that his study "has nothing to do with pumps. We are not suggesting that this effect is related to the use of the pump." Rather, he says, he thinks "the problem is the surgery itself."

Wolozin says bypass surgery is comparable to a traumatic injury to the brain. "Surgical stress causes a steep increase in stress hormones, such as cortisone, and I think the stress hormones trigger a cascade of events that can also reduce oxygen to the brain."

He cautions that the study not should discourage people from getting bypass surgery, which he says is a "good and useful surgery." But he says some people may benefit from some approaches that could reduce stress. "I think behavioral approaches such as relaxation therapy might be appropriate. Increased oxygen and glucose supply to the brain might also be appropriate."